Tom Cary is The Telegraph's Formula One Correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter @tomcary_tel

2011 predictions? I haven't got a clue but it should be fun finding out

So the 2011 season is upon us. Finally. After the cancellation of what was meant to be the season-opening grand prix in Bahrain due to civil unrest the last few weeks have really dragged. But we are here now and it is freezing.

I say that not fishing for sympathy (although it would be nice if it were a little warmer), I'm merely noting that the unseasonably cold temperatures could be a big factor in this weekend's action with tyres struggling to reach the optimum 'operating window' and degrading as fast as they did during winter testing.

In fact, let’s not beat about the bush, tyres are dominating paddock talk in Melbourne, which may not sound very exciting but hopefully will prove to be so. It will certainly make races less predictable.

To summarise, Pirelli have replaced Bridgestone for this season and have created tyres which 'drop off' very quickly after the first few laps. This means extra pit stops (we only had one last year but we could have as many as five per race in 2011) and consequently extra opportunities to make inspired/calamitous strategy calls.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, a man adept at making the right calls in these situations, feels it could turn the whole show ‘upside down’.

"What is going to happen this year is the races are going to be less predictable, and the results will get turned around a lot more because of the tyres," Brawn said. "It won't only be the effect of the tyres either, as it will be the situations they create, like the safety cars.

“The whole thing will be turned upside down and certainly, for the first half of the season, people will be trying to find the right equilibrium.

"I think the faster cars can be beaten by the sharper team. If you have the fastest car and you fluff it, you will get beaten. It is not as easy as it was.”

In light of all that, making predictions is clearly a mug’s game. On pure pace alone it appears Red Bull have the edge from Ferrari, but when you throw in the tyre degradation/rear wing uncertainty/KERS then it may be about which team best exploits the regulations.

Brawn and Michael Schumacher are a lethal combination in this respect so Mercedes may not be a bad shout. Ferrari have brought in Englishman Pat Fry to make their strategy calls on the pit wall. How will he fare?

And then there are McLaren. The Woking team have had a desperate build-up to the season but were fastest in practice on Friday and not as downbeat as you might expect. On the contrary, there is the feeling their revised exhaust may be working. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are looking and sounding pretty chipper.

What I’m trying to say is that I haven’t got a clue what is going to happen but it should be fun finding out.